This Week in CFCL History

Here’s a look at this week in CFCL history, covering the dates June 23 to June 29.

June 23, 1992	RUFFINS trade Jerald Clark and Tyler Green to KENTS for Eddie Murray. The second place Ruffins look to add to their offense by adding a future Hall of Famer in the final year of his CFCL contract.   I have to believe the Ruffins were disappointed in Murray’s production, as he hit just .260 with 8 HR the rest of the way, though he did drive in 44 runs.  What did Jerald Clark give the Kents following the trade? 8 HR and 44 RBI, but hit for a better average than Murray - .284.
June 24, 1997	COPPERFIELDS trade Dmitri Young, Quilvio Veras, Karim Garcia, and their 7th round Rotation Draft pick in 1998 to LAMBCHOPS for Delino Deshields, Sammy Sosa, and their 8th round Rotation Draft pick in 1998. The Copperfields, having just moved into a tie for first with David’s Ruffins, put together a package of young talent for a bundle of speed and power.  Sosa and Deshileds came through big-time, helping the Copperfields secure the 1997 Championship:  Sosa: .244 BA – 21 HR – 68 RBI – 15 SB Deshields: .297 BA – 6 HR – 33 RBI – 28 SB  The Copperfields ended up selecting Steve Cooke with the Chops’ 8th round pick in 2008.  The Lambchops got screwed when the AL Tampa Bay Devil Rays selected Dmitri Young in the expansion draft that off-season, then immediately traded him back to the National League. Because Young had spent a few minutes on an American League team, the rules at the time dictated that he be immediately released. Young wasn’t the only player lost by a CFCL team during that expansion draft (and yes, we later revised the rule to prevent that kind of absurdity.  Not all was lost, though, as the Lambchops got 6 HR, 44 RBI, and 24 SB from the .05 Veras in 1998, while Garcia, also a nickel, provided 9 HR and 43 RBI. The Chops selected Emil Brown with the 7th round pick from the Copperfields.
June 24, 1997	COPPERFIELDS trade Esteban Loaiza to FLATFEET for Tom Glavine. Glavine won 7 games for the Copperfields, with a 3.18 ERA and 1.15 RATIO. Loaiza won 6 for the Flatfeet, but they released him following the season as part of Winter Waivers.
June 24, 2009	COPPERFIELDS trade their 16th round pick in 2010 to the GRAGING BULLS for David Bush. Go big or go home…  The Bulls used the 16th round pick to select Jeff Fulchino, who put up a 5.51 ERA in 2010.
June 25, 1991	DEM REBELS trade Terry Pendleton to SIX PACKS for Charlie Hayes. A swap of third basemen. Although Pendleton was having the better season to date, he was on the final year of his contract which made him expendable for the last place Rebels.  Pendleton got even better after the deal, hitting .329 with 15 HR, 59 RBI, and 7 SB, which helped the Six Packs finish in second place in one of the tightest races in CFCL history (the top three teams were separated by a single point in the final standings).  Hayes was cheap (.04), and a potential keeper for the Rebels. I recall Kelly selling Rich on his potential by claiming that although Hayes was only hitting .212 at the time of the trade, he drove in a run with nearly every hit. That statement wasn’t all that far from the truth, as Hayes had 33 hits and 20 RBI at the time of the deal.  It appears Rich was rather impatient with Hayes to fulfill on this promise … in the same Roster Change report that reported the trade, Rich (who was covering League Secretary duties while I was out of town for work) wrote:  Oh, and by the way, Kelly. Line score from Tuesday night. C. Hayes 2-1-1-0. He got his blessed hit, where’s the RBI? And what in the world is he doing with a run scored?  Rich was apparently perturbed enough to immediately put Hayes on the trading block, and the Rebels sent him to the Ruffins the very next week.
June 25, 1996	DEM REBELS trade Rod Beck, Orlando Merced, and their 12th round Rotation Draft pick in 1997 to LAMBCHOPS for Barry Bonds, Bruce Ruffin, and Jay Powell. The Rebels had an 11 point lead over the 2nd place Copperfields when they put this one together, which was as much about securing their lead as it was about increasing it. After all, they already had 70 of the possible 80 points at the time.  Bonds didn’t disappoint, hitting .322 with 22 HR, 69 RBI, and 23 SB, and leading the Rebels to the 1996 Championship. Ruffin added 5 Wins and 12 Saves, while Powell contributed 3 Wins and a Save.  The Lambchops didn’t exactly reap benefits from this deal… Merced ended up in the American League the following year and had to be released, and the Chops sent Beck to the FlatFeet for Delino DeShields on the first day of the 1997 season. DeShields didn’t hang around long, as the Chops dealt him to the Copperfields on June 24 of that season (see above).  The Chops selected pitcher Tim Scott in the 12th round of the 1997 Rotation Draft).
June 25, 2003	SIX PACKS trade Byung Hyun Kim, Steve Finley, and Fernando Vina to RESERVOIR DOGS for Kip Wells and Bryan Bullington. The fourth place Reservoir Dogs make a couple deals in an effort to catch the first place Lambchops.   Kim had gotten traded to the American League earlier in June. Under 2003 rules, as long as he remained on a CFCL roster for the rest of the season, the stats he accumulated in the AL would accrue for his CFCL team, however he could not be kept the following season unless he returned to the NL. This meant he was of little use to the rebuilding Six Packs, but still held value for a contending team.  Kim gave the Dogs 17 HoSv over the rest of the season. Finley contributed 150 TB, 44 RS, 39 RBI, and 11 SB, and the Dogs flipped Vina to Dem Rebels a few weeks later.  The Six Packs got a cheap (.01) keeper in Wells and a minor league pitcher who, although highly touted at the time, never amounted to much.  The Six Packs did not get the chance to reap the benefits from Wells. Six Packs owner Kelly Barone resigned from the league following the season and Kip Wells ended up being the first player selected by replacement team By Kennen in the dispersal draft made up of former Six Packs players.  The minor league pitcher in the deal, Bryan Bullington, was significant in that Hard Hats owner Matt Grage had badly wanted to acquire him from the Reservoir Dogs earlier in the season. Dogs owner Jason Grey held firm though, and Grage eventually accepted Bobby Basham in the earlier deal. The ill feelings about not getting Bullington, and other portions of that earlier trade, led to quite a bit of unpleasantness later in the season.  Stay tuned…
June 25, 2003	COPPERFIELDS trade Lance Berkman, Vladimir Guerrero, Adrian Beltre, Royce Clayton, Tino Martinez, Jeff D’Amico and Andy Ashby to RESERVOIR DOGS for Juan Encarnacion, Jose Macias, Kevin Millwood, Adam Eaton, Andy Marte, Jonathan Figueroa, and Anderson Machado. The Reservoir Dogs second deal of the day had them acquiring a rather hefty package of talent from the Copperfields. D’Amico and Ashby were filler, but here are the post trade stats for the hitters the Dogs received:  Berkman: ,422 OBP – 151 TB – 58 RS – 49 RBI – 4 SB Guerrero: .434 OPB – 144 TB – 40 RS – 46 RBI – 4 SB Beltre: .304 OBP – 154 TB – 30 RS – 55 RBI – 1 SB Clayton: .300 OBP – 73 TB – 26 RS – 15 RBI – 3 SB Martinez: .367 OBP – 97 TB – 34 RS – 36 RBI – 1 SB  The keys for the Copperfields were major league keepers in Encarnacion, Millwood, and Eaton, and Marte one to the most highly regarded hitting prospects in baseball.  Encarnacion, Millwood, and Eaton all played for the Copperfields the following season and all had rather pedestrian seasons.  Marte continued to be labeled a can’t miss prospect, ranked the #3 prospect in baseball by Baseball Prospectus prior to the 2004 season, and the #1 overall prospect prior to the 2005 season. He never played for the Copperfields, though, as they used him as a key component in a deal with the Lambchops at the 2004 trading deadline.
June 25, 2003	HARD HATS trade Jake Peavy and Juan Uribe to STONES for Jason Schmidt and Kyle Farnsworth. Schmidt and Farnsworth were in the final years of unrenewable contracts, while Peavy was a bargain at .05.  Peavy was a huge acquisition for the Stones, serving as the foundation for their starting pitching corps in 2004 when they took the CFCL Championship. Peavy led the league with a 2.27 ERA, and added a 1.20 RATIO, 3.26 K:BB, and 16 QS.  Farnsworth gave the Hard Hats 12 HoSv over the remainder of the season, but Schmidt didn’t last long with the team. Deciding to change course a few weeks later, the Hard Hats sent him to the eventual 2003 Champion, Eric’s Lambchops in what proved to be a very controversial and ill-advised trade.  Stay tuned…
June 26, 2005	HOT SLUDGE SUNDAE trade Shawn Green, JT Snow, Rajai Davis, and their 13th round Rotation Draft pick in 2006 to DEM REBELS for Lance Niekro, Ryan Langerhans, Quinton McCracken, and their 7th round Rotation Draft pick in 2006. The Sundae had acquired Green from the Splinters only a month earlier, but now shifting focus to rebuilding, they send him to the Rebels for a package of potential keepers.  Niekro and McCraken both bombed and were out of baseball within two years. Langerhans turned in a marginal season for a penny player the next year (.350 OBP – 119 TB – 46 RS – 28 RBI – 1 SB).   The real key for the Sundae, though, was that 7th round Rotation Draft pick from the Rebels. They used it to select minor leaguer Troy Tulowitzki, who has been a key component of their offense ever since.
June 27, 2005	DA PAUL MEISTERS trade Vinnie Castilla and Mark Grudzielanek to RESERVIOR DOGS for Maron Byrd, Wes Helms, Zack Duke, and their 7th and 13th round Rotation Draft picks in 2006.
June 27, 2012	MORKERTZUMA’S REVENGE trade Matt Harvey and Martin Maldanado to TWIN KILLERS for Yadier Molina. The Revenge get the last three months of Molina’s contract in exchange for a couple minor leaguers. Molina delivered for the Revenge (.378 OBP, 122 TB, 32 RS, 32 RBI, and 5 SB after the deal), but the Killers are reaping the benefits in 2013, as Harvey is turning in a stellar season so far: 2.00 ERA, 0.85 RATIO, 5.50 K:BB. 14 QS.
June 28, 1994	COPPERFIELDS trade Mike Stanton and Alejandro Pena to DOORMATTS for Tony Tarasco and Scott Sanders. The DoorMatt had accumulated all of 4 Saves by the end of June, while the Copperfields lead the category by 28, so Stanton (the relief pitcher, not the stud hitter) and Pena were expendable.  Unfortunately for the DoorMatts, both Stanton and Pena were soon lost to injury and saved a total of one game following the trade.   On the flip side, Tarasco hit only .242 for the Copperfields, with 5 RBI and 3 SB, while Sanders provided only one win.  A bust all the way around…
June 28, 2004	SPLINTERS trade Steve Finley, Danny Bautista, Jeff Bagwell, and Adam Everett to STONES for Austin Kearns, John Patterson, JJ Hardy, and Dave Kelton.
June 29, 2003	RUFFINS trade Kerry Wood, Bobby Brownlie, and their 3rd and 10th round Rotation Draft picks in 2004 to LAMBCHOPS for Craig Wilson and Tim Redding. Although Redding bombed the following year, the Ruffins picked up a stellar keeper in Craig Wilson. Only .04, he provided the Ruffins with a .354 OBP, 280 TB, 97 RS, 82 RBI, and 2 SB in 2004.   Wood contributed to the Lambchops’ 2003 Championship with 11 QS, a 3.46 ERA, 1.26 RATIO, and 2.28 K:BB. The following season, they selected Sergio Santos and Brian Hunter with the Ruffins’ 3rd and 10th round draft picks.  Brownlie came in handy a few weeks later, as the Lambchops sent him to the Hard Hats for Jason Schmidt in a highly controversial and ultimately destructive deal.  Stay tuned…